Dear Members,

Thank you to all those members who attended in the Annual General Meeting on 17th September and participated in progressing important resolutions and the election of a new Council for 2019-2020.

As you will recall from the notice of meeting in the September Bulletin, included in the business of this year’s AGM was a Special Resolution dealing with adoption of three specific clauses in the new constitution which provided a mechanism for filling office-bearer positions should there be no further nominations received from the floor at the AGM. This was needed because we are still in transition awaiting approval from ASIC for the transfer to CLG and the new constitution. At the AGM these resolutions were approved by a majority of members present. This made it possible for the newly-elected Council to meet briefly after the AGM, to appoint a President for the forthcoming Society year 2019-2020. A full list of the new Council is included later in this Bulletin.

I am honoured to have been appointed as President for another year and look forward to working with Councillors, staff and members to move our Society forward beyond the period of “transition” which has consumed our activities to a very large extent for the past two years. I will strive to focus not only on ideas of how to meet and solve problems that arise, but also to anticipate how we can engage with issues and develop enterprises for the future benefit of the Society.

In dealing with the major challenges over the past 2 years (buying & re-locating to new premises, transition to a CLG, staffing review) I personally, have not had time for some geographical initiatives that I had hoped to progress as an incoming president in 2017. I am pleased to be able to report that we have now re-established the Society’s Scientific Studies Committee and look forward to working to develop our plans in that exciting area. I also hope to re-establish our Publications committee in the near future with the goal of reviewing the roles of our current excellent Bulletin and website and providing a new platform (e.g. an online journal) for publishing geographical research both for the wider academic and professional communities. I am particularly concerned to seek a solution to continuing lecture presentations on the Sunshine Coast. One option we are investigating is how to stream lectures presented at Fortescue street to members via our website.

The incoming Council comprises an excellent balance of members with academic, business, educational and professional expertise, including both new councillors who will bring fresh ideas and perspectives and re-elected councillors who bring continuity and experience. The year ahead presents interesting tasks – What kind of RGSQ do we wish to build for the future? How should we be investing our efforts and resources to promote and support Geography? How can we increase our membership, particularly of younger people? I look forward to hearing your ideas on these, and many other matters relating to RGSQ over the coming year.

Iraphne Childs, RGSQ President